Tuesday 8 March 2011 14.51 EST
First published on Tuesday 8 March 2011 14.51 EST

The food safety watchdog has insisted there is no safety risk from the recycled cardboard boxes used for foods such as breakfast cereals, even though manufacturers admit they are altering or reviewing their packaging following the health concerns.

Cardboard packaging made from recycled newspapers can carry the mineral oils used in the papers' ink, Swiss researchers have found. These oils, their study says, can seep into foods such as cereal, pasta and rice and even pass through the packaging's protective inner plastic bags, bringing possible health risks.

Koni Grob of the Food Safety Laboratory in Zurich said toxicologists had linked the oils to inflammation of internal organs and cancer, though he stressed meals would contain only a minute dose.

Switching to non-recycled packaging was too costly in terms of the environment, he said, so other solutions needed to be considered, such as inner-food linings that acted as barriers to the oils.

Grob said: "Our bodies already contain, on average, around one gram of mineral oil – that is by far the largest contaminant we have in our body. For some people it is 10 grams, which is a high value. We are obviously accumulating mineral oil over a lifetime. What the baby gets through human milk is probably staying over a lifetime.

"One month or less has no real effect, so there is no emergency – consumers should not make any rapid changes. We have to think about it."

The UK's Food Standards Agency said: "The FSA is not aware of any firm evidence to suggest that there are food safety risks related to mineral oils in recycled food packaging. The research [which examined products bought from German supermarkets] … is interesting, but due to incomplete data the results have not demonstrated that mineral oils in food packaging represent a food safety risk." Further research was being carried out, the FSA said.

The cereal-maker Jordans, whose brands include Country Crisp and Crunchy Oats, has stopped using certain kinds of recycled cardboard. Other manufacturers say they are taking action to reduce levels of mineral oils in packaging.

Jordans said: "We will be discussing improved supply of recycled board, that avoids content from newspapers, with the industry and our suppliers."

Kellogg's said it was working with suppliers on devising new packaging "which allows us to meet our environmental commitments but will also contain significantly lower levels of mineral oil". Its statement said: "We are also looking at alternative inner liners for our packets. Whilst there are strict regulations when it comes to the packaging of food, there is currently no direction from the UK government about mineral oils. We will immediately follow any such guidance once it has been given."